The Happiness Of Pursuit by Davis Phinney with Austin Murphy

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The Happiness Of Pursuit by Davis Phinney with Austin Murphy
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
Published: June 1 2011
Hardcover, 240 pages
Printed in the USA

The Happiness of Pursuit is a remarkable story of fathers and sons and bikes, of victories large and small. In the book Davis Phinney describes his experiences as a professional cyclist and how he used the lessons learned during his career to deal with young onset Parkinson's Disease. Towards the end of the book Davis's Parkinson Disease develops to the point that medications are no longer effective. He has Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery to ease the effects of Parkinson's and recovers from the surgery just in time to see his son, Taylor, race The Pursuit in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

I remember seeing articles in cycling magazines about Davis Phinney while he was racing for 7-11 and on the Coors Light teams. Davis was one of the top road sprinters in the world. I enjoyed reading his accounts of famous races from his point of view while competing in them. Also in the book is information about his wife, Connie Carpenter-Phinney's famous bicycle raceing career. Towards the end of the book his son, Taylor, begins his bicycle racing exploits. 

Any cycling enthusiast or anyone that knows someone suffering from the effects of Parkinson's Disease will enjoy this book.

Click here for more on Davis Phinney.

Click here for more on Connie Carpenter-Phinney.

In the book Davis Phinney describes his win during stage 3 of the 1986 Tour de France. He thought he was sprinting for second place and was surprised to find out that he had actually won the stage. During the stage Davis was in a break away group of twelve riders. A Teko team rider was up the road ahead of the break away group on a solo break. Unknown to Phinney the Teko rider had a flat tire and the twelve riders passed him while he was on the side of the road. Below are three videos of stage 3 of the 1986 Tour de France. If your don't watch any of the rest of the videos, be sure and watch the end of the third video. In the finishing sprint newspapers and other litter are blowing around and the main field is just behind the twelve riders of the break away group.